Oskar Dirlewanger

Oskar Dirlewanger (26 September 1895-7 June 1945) was an Oberfuhrer of the SS of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Biography
Oskar Dirlewanger was born on 26 September 1895 in Wurzburg, Bavaria, German Empire. Dirlewanger was known for his amoral personality, his alcoholism, and his sadism, which he developed after serving as a machine-gunner during World War I. Dirlewanger joined the Freikorps during the suppression of communists in Ruhr and Saxony during the German Revolution and Polish rebels in the Silesian Uprisings, and he joined the Nazi Party and the Sturmabteilung before joining the SS. Dirlewanger was arrested in 1934 for raping a 14-year-old in the League of German Girls and was sent to the Welzheim concentration camp, but he was later released. Dirlewanger joined the Condor Legion and was wounded three times during the Spanish Civil War, and he was reinstated to the Nazi Party afterwards.

During World War II, Dirlewanger was given command of the 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, and he engaged in anti-partisan operations in Eastern Europe. In May-June 1943 he launched Operation Cottbus and killed 11,796 civilians and Belarusian partisans, and he took part in the Wola massacre, killing 40,000 civilians. Dirlewanger's suppression of the Warsaw Uprising saw him massacre tens of thousands of civilians, and he also put down the Slovak National Uprising later that year. On 1 June 1945 he was arrested in Upper Swabia by the US Army, and Dirlewanger was beaten to death by Polish Army soldiers in the employ of France.